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Thursday, September 2, 2010

New iOS 4.1, 4.2 coming up, new iPod touch gets A4 and Retina Display

Apple made a raft of announcements early this morning, some of it relevant to us in Singapore and Asia, the others, not so. Here's a look at what is directly relevant to iOS users here:

New iOS 4.1 This is coming September 8 and will have a bunch of bug fixes. It will fix bugs with the proximity sensor, Bluetooth and the sluggish performance on the iPhone 3G. Will also have Game Center. This update is not available for the iPad.

Upcoming iOS 4.2. Due in November. This will bring multi-tasking and folders to the iPad. Finally. (Update: Also, wireless printing.)

iTunes 10. Has a music-centred social media network called Ping. You can follow artists and friends. Great way to discover new music. Also has AirPlay, that will allow you to stream your music wirelessly to compatible speakers.

New iPod touch. As expected, Apple unveiled a new iPod touch. It is supermodel-thin and has the A4 processor, Retina Display, front- and rear-facing cameras, 3-axis gyroscope and will handle FaceTime.

Other announcements:

New AppleTV. Smaller and cheaper than before. A quarter of the size of the previous model and just US$99 compared to US$229 before. Thanks to AirPlay, you can have music and movies playing on your iPhone/iPod touch or iPad and you can transfer it wirelessly to your HD TV via AppleTV.

The new AppleTV also does Netflix movies, cheaper HD TV shows (US$1 vs $3) and first run HD movies for $5. Unfortunately, it only works in the US iTunes store, which means you need a US iTunes account.

New iPod shuffle. Apple turned away from the tie-clip look and went back to the old square clip. Some changes under the hood. Good for workouts. Just US$49 so it won't be so painful if it flies off while you're jogging and gets run over by a truck.

New iPod nano. Small, square touchscreen that comes with a clip. Will not play movies anymore though.

2 comments:

It seems that the Apple TV is less useful to us now, since it is more or less a US centric device. I am surprise that they does not build in a web browser or supports Dashboard/widgets! That will make it a much more useful device.

iPod nano is interesting - hopefully some company will make a wrist band and make it into the iWatch. I am not sure whether we can make that clock application the default? That will be cool.

Never miss an imerlion update!

About Me

is a writer and editor based in Singapore. He has written five books and was the managing editor of Singapore: The Encyclopedia. His kids see his iPhone as a portable YouTube device.
He can be reached at jimmy at ricejar.com